/*  Copyright (c) 2000-2006 hamcrest.org
 */
package org.hamcrest;

/**
 * A matcher over acceptable values.
 * A matcher is able to describe itself to give feedback when it fails.
 * <p/>
 * Matcher implementations should <b>NOT directly implement this interface</b>.
 * Instead, <b>extend</b> the {@link BaseMatcher} abstract class,
 * which will ensure that the Matcher API can grow to support
 * new features and remain compatible with all Matcher implementations.
 * <p/>
 * For easy access to common Matcher implementations, use the static factory
 * methods in {@link CoreMatchers}.
 *
 * @see CoreMatchers
 * @see BaseMatcher
 */
@SuppressWarnings({})
public interface Matcher<T> extends SelfDescribing {

	/**
	 * Evaluates the matcher for argument <var>item</var>.
	 * <p/>
	 * This method matches against Object, instead of the generic type T. This is
	 * because the caller of the Matcher does not know at runtime what the type is
	 * (because of type erasure with Java generics). It is down to the implementations
	 * to check the correct type. 
	 *
	 * @param item the object against which the matcher is evaluated.
	 * @return <code>true</code> if <var>item</var> matches, otherwise <code>false</code>.
	 *
	 * @see BaseMatcher
	 */
	boolean matches(Object item);

	/**
	 * This method simply acts a friendly reminder not to implement Matcher directly and
	 * instead extend BaseMatcher. It's easy to ignore JavaDoc, but a bit harder to ignore
	 * compile errors .
	 *
	 * @see Matcher for reasons why.
	 * @see BaseMatcher
	 */
	void _dont_implement_Matcher___instead_extend_BaseMatcher_();
}
